It is a small tree that can grow up to 5 meters (16 feet) high with lightbark and knotted branches, few leaves and small white flowers. It is native toSomalia, Arabia and Yemen.

When the bark is cut, the gum resin exudes as a pale yellow liquid, whichdries into reddish-brown lumps the size of a walnut from which the oil isdistilled.

Myrrh was very popular in the ancient world and was used as a medicine by theChinese and Egyptians, and as part of the Egyptian sun-worshipping ritual andmummification. It was used in cosmetics, while Greek soldiers took a phial ofMyrrh oil with them into battle, to stop bleeding wound.